Raindrops fell one after another, turning into a downpour just as Su Er and Hermione emerged from the Forbidden Forest. Fortunately, the Invisibility Cloak also kept out the rain, but even so, their robe hems and shoes were covered in muddy water.
"Hah... hah..."
Hermione panted hard, scraping mud off her shoes in front of the Castle doors. Her slender brows knitted tightly; the thick mud on her soles utterly disgusted the little girl who loved cleanliness.
"I mean..." Su Er grumbled as he gathered up the Invisibility Cloak, "have you forgotten you're a wizard?"
"Oh, right..." Hermione stopped what she was doing and looked up at Su Er, blinking a few times with a adorably vacant expression.
"Mr. Bones? And Miss Granger, what are you doing at the entrance?"
It was Professor McGonagall. She was responsible for patrolling the Castle entrance that day, and she had been hearing murmuring outside, along with the sound of shoe soles scraping against the stone slabs.
Hermione had just drawn her wand when the stern voice sounded behind her. She jumped like a little rabbit, then obediently lowered her head and held her wand in both hands.
"Good evening, Professor McGonagall." Su Er also obediently greeted the professor, whose exterior was cold and stern but who actually had a little cat living in her heart.
"You two..."
Professor McGonagall wore deep-green, star-speckled wizard robes. She watched the two of them, her gaze sweeping unobtrusively over the silver fabric draped over Su Er's hand,
and frowned when she saw the stone steps Hermione had dirtied by scraping her shoes against them.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, Professor, we were practicing magic outside after dinner, and then it suddenly started raining..." Su Er played a little trick, answering Professor McGonagall's question deftly.
*Ah, no... they